kippy

PM just sent, thanks kindly!

I am in the SF Bay Area. Would appreciate any leads on this amp.

I have been made aware by many (including Mike) that the room itself is part of the sound of the system. I appreciate the advice and my plan is to change one thing at a time in the system and observe the impact. There is additional furniture and sound-absorbing things going into the space over the next year that will influence the system sound. I was thinking about adding thick curtains to some of the walls, windows and doors to cut down on sound reflection. Will let you know how it goes. @mikebse2a3 gives great advice!

Thanks kindly; I hear you saying I should do some careful listening. WRT bi-amping, one is required to bi-amp these speakers as they have a DSP. I've been playing with different amps (and preamps too).

Here's a nice closeup for you Mike!

Thanks kindly Mike - and thanks for all the audio tips and suggestions on the thread and behind the scenes!

Thanks for the suggestion - do you have any recommendations to play with given the space?

Like Icarus flying close to the sun, I am looking to swap out the MC-252 on HF duty for a MC-225. I think that is how it might get better. But is it the best thing I have ever heard so far? It sure is and I am grateful for that.

I'd love to try out the gear you have....if any SF Bay Area members want to bring their amps or pre-amps over to test things out, I am game for listening sessions. WRT the digital crossover, can't really tell who the manufacturer is from the box itself. No digital configuration but has physical switches on the backside for basic configuration (auto/on, 0/-9db pad, balance/unbalanced).

I ended up hiring local movers. It took 3 of them (they were really big dudes) to bring the bass cabinets downstairs. Money well spent!

Finally have the room downstairs carpet installed and moved the Jubilee speakers down there. It sounds fantastic. Imaging is so beautiful and the room sounds great. I started playing with the SVS sub and the Jubilee's this evening. I am aware the Jubilee speakers go down to 18hz but it was interesting to see how bass-heavy music would respond with the sub. I set the crossover frequency for the SVS at about 20hz and it added just the right amount of low-end. Not sure if I will sell off the SVS in the long run as the cabinets still sound pretty good without it. Pics for the team:

Actually, there are a few things you can configure via three switches on the back - 1. auto-on 2. balanced or balanced connections 3. 0db/-9db gain setting One minor pet-peeve - the LED on the front is bright white, like 5000 Kelvin color tone. I wish it were a different color. Easy to mask for me otherwise.

That is correct. No user configuration possible at the moment, but plenty of available ports on the back for new possible features.

Thanks kindly sir! I appreciate the welcome. Everyone has been great so far about sharing their knowledge and experience. I'll take a close look at the gear you are using. I've heard great things about the First Watt J2. I have worked through a few different options in the last month myself: Digital Source: Bluesound Node - sounds great, better than my old Sonos port and much faster to start playing music. Analog Source: Technics 1210GR2 - sounds lovely, will last forever. I'm an old DJ so this is an obvious choice for me. Preamp: Bozak CMA-10-2DLC - discrete and I preferred it over the McIntosh C8 pre that I tried. Paired it with a Durrough 40 meters and a Japanese stand for the mixer and meters. LF: McIntosh MC-252 pushes the bass bins with punch. I tried them with an MHA-150 and felt it was missing a bit of bass slam. On paper, the MHA-150 should work just fine given the wattage consumed by the high efficiency woofers but when playing dance music, I felt something was missing. My sense is that the LF cabinets can sop up whatever wattage you send their way. MHA-150 sounded good. MC-252's sounded great. HF: McIntosh MC-252 sounds lovely at lower volumes but when I tried the HF horns with the aforementioned MHA-150, they sounded very sweet and "just right". The experiment with the lower-power MHA-150 convinced me I should swap out one of my MC-252s for an old MC-225 tube amp (if anyone wants to sell theirs, please contact me!). Thanks to Mike for suggesting the MHA-150 and his advice as I think low-power for the horns is ideal.